Auguries of Innocence
by Aife Bisclaveret
Summary: As violence against mutants continues to increase two very different people try in their own ways to protect the innocent.


Disclaimer: The X-men are the property of Marvel and 20th Century Fox. The poem Auguries of Innocence is by William Blake.  
  
Notes: I'm giving this a R rating because of swearing and some fairly gory violence further on, I'm not 100% sure yet whether it will need it but it probably will.  
  
As this is my first movieverse story I'm trying to find my feet with the characters so constructive criticism will be appreciated.  
  
  
  
Auguries of Innocence  
  
  
  
Every Night and every morn some to misery are born  
  
Every morn and every night some are born to sweet delight  
  
Every morn and every night some are born to sweet delight  
  
Some are born to endless night  
  
  
  
Every event in our lives leaves it's mark on us, something we carry with us, be it a memory, a fear or just one of the many, different, little things that go into shaping the people we are and the people we will become. Death is different; death leaves a stain, on our memory, on our conscience, on our heart or on our soul.  
  
He ran. He'd been running so long, he didn't know anymore what was controlling his legs. Hell he was barely even conscious of the fact his legs were moving. It happened so often now he didn't even make the decision to run his body just set itself in motion, instinct taking over from thought. His instinct was to survive though his thoughts were slightly different. Why should someone, something like him survive; he was cursed, damned, if not by God then at least by genetics. It wasn't as if he had so much to live for; what passed for his life wasn't even existence, it was barely survival. He was tired of running; he was tired of surviving.  
  
"We live to fight another day." That was what his brother liked to say. Except it wasn't true in his case, he lived to see his wife, his children; it was true for him though. He lived to fight again, to run again; that was all there was for him and it wasn't enough, not anymore. It was so easy to end it; all he had to do was slow down.  
  
  
  
Emer slid into a seat at the back of the auditorium; the crowd sat in rapt silence listening as the senator spoke. He was preacher from the Deep South somewhere, Alabama or Tennessee she thought and he'd mastered his trade there. He was an orator; his skill was evident not just in what he said but the tone and pitch of his voice, his inflections and his body language all of which suggested a total belief in what he was saying and evoked confidence in him from the audience. She had the distinct feeling that it was taking a lot of control to keep some people from standing up and shouting Hallelujah. Emer wondered how much of that skill was natural and how much had been taught and finely honed by campaign managers and the like over the years.  
  
Her eyes flickered nervously around the room taking in the people who surrounded her; most of them were nodding their heads in obvious agreement with Senator Wright. She was glad to see that at least a few faces showed distaste with the senator's words.  
  
Wright finished up his speech making what had been Senator Kelly's favourite point in favour of mutant registration; that of equating mutant powers to guns. She pursed her lips remembering the senator's opposition to stronger gun laws in the 1990s. His hypocrisy astounded her. He finished his speech and silence filled the room for a moment. Then the applause began, slowly at first then swelling to a crescendo that reverberated around the room, the sound hit the high roof and was thrown back at the crowd, the echo amplifying the clamour. The noise added to Emer's anger, that so many people would agree with Wright and have so little shame about their prejudice scared her; it reminded her what exactly they were up against.  
  
She sighed, going to things like this was depressing, incredibly depressing. She knew, maybe more than anyone, the kind of prejudice against mutants there existed in the world. She saw it, lived with it everyday but to see it so publicly on show, to see people trying to legislate for it; it was enough to destroy what little faith she had left in humanity. She still believed in people, in individuals and the ability of some human beings to do incredibly good things but the human race as a whole was a totally different thing.  
  
  
  
Warren Worthington III sat somewhere near the middle of the room, for some reason he felt less conspicuous there, like he wouldn't attract as much attention as he would if he sat at the front or the back. It didn't really matter anyway because right now everyone's attention was on Senator Wright. Warren tapped his long, tapered fingers on the side of his seat as the senator sold his own particular brand of bullshit. He couldn't believe any one would believe the crap coming out of Wright's mouth but the people around him seemed to be buying into it.  
  
Warren disliked Wright and not just over the mutant issue though Wright had become the main proponent of mutant registration when Senator Kelly had made his extraordinary U-turn. Wright was smarmy, slimy and had the tendency to get under Warren's skin with his sense of righteousness and his belief in his own omniscience.  
  
It was Wright's sense of infallibility that made him such a difficult person to debate against. He didn't know whom the anti-mutant registration campaign had chosen to speak but it would have to be someone really talented to make any sort of impact after Wright's sermon.  
  
All eyes were on the table opposite Wright; there were a number of people sitting around it. Two of whom he knew, Al Richards and Julia Stein. He had the suspicion that Julia would be the one to do the talking considering she was the official spokeswoman of the anti-mutant registration campaign but Al was pretty high up in the campaign and Warren vaguely remembered having heard that Al was on a debating team in college.  
  
Warren sat listening to the speech. Julia had only just begun and seemed to be doing okay. He still had a slightly apprehensive feeling, he knew Senator Wright and he knew the senator would not make this easy for her. Julia was good, he knew she was but he also knew how hard it must be for her to stand up in a room as hostile as this one and try to get her point across.  
  
  
  
Julia was just finishing the introduction and about to start her actual argument when Warren noticed the movement at the other table. Senator Wright stood slowly and noisily to attract as much attention as possible.  
  
"Ms Stein," he began his booming voice seeming to fill every corner of the room, "Are you a mutant?"  
  
  
  
"Senator Wright," Julia said sternly, "I allowed you to speak without interruption, I would appreciate it if you would have the common courtesy to do the same for me. However seeing as you are so anxious to know, no I am not a mutant but I don't see how that would have any bearing on what I say. Perhaps you are under the misguided presumption that the only people who are fighting against mutant registration are mutants. "  
  
  
  
Julia returned smoothly to her speech but Warren could see that she was annoyed with the senator. He could understand why, Wright was sitting across from her with a sly smirk spread across his face, that alone was irritating never mind what had been coming out of his mouth earlier. He pulled his attention away from the senator and listened to Julia.  
  
She had moved away from the table and was standing in the middle of the floor addressing the audience.  
  
"Even though the human race has proven its intolerance over and over again throughout history our propensity for prejudice still shocks me. We fear what we don't know, what is different. We fear the other, those who aren't like us and that which we fear we hate and that which we hate we must destroy.  
  
We, America hold the ideals set down in documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights before us like a shield from any accusation of intolerance. We feel that we are the bastions of liberty. How does mutant registration coincide with that image?"  
  
  
  
"Ms Stein," Wright interrupted again. "It is all very well to talk about liberty but what about life? What about our children in school with mutants that have ten times the destructive power of a gun? What about their right to life?"  
  
  
  
"I was not finished Senator," Julia said softly. "But let me ask you? What do you envisage after registration? Segregation? Mutant apartheid? How long before it's mutant reservations, mutant concentration camps?"  
  
  
  
"You are exaggerating Ms Stein," Senator Wright replied his voice laden with annoyance and his face turning slightly red. "We are merely trying to protect ourselves and our children."  
  
  
  
"From what?" Julia asked. "The 'mutant threat'? What about mutants? And their children? Senator a marginalized and oppressed people who are subject to injustice and intolerance will do what they have to do to protect themselves and their families, and an accepted and integrated people will use their powers to help society. Believe me Senator if there ever is a mutant threat it will be because you and people like you created it."  
  
  
  
Warren heard a journalist sitting near him give a low whistle.  
  
"Jesus she must have brass balls to go up against Always Wrighty like that," the journalist whispered to his neighbour.  
  
  
  
Warren smiled, Julia brought up a lot of good points, points he felt needed to be raised and he believed that she had come across much better than Wright, of course Wright and his supporters would say he had won the debate but any neutrals would have to have seen sense in what Julia had said.  
  
  
  
Afterwards the reporters all flocked around Wright, seeking that all- important sound bite. Wright was really good at those and Warren wasn't at all surprised that the journalists continued to cling around him as he left the room. The media's coverage of the mutant registration issue was leaning more and more to the pro side, which was one of the campaign's biggest problems at the moment and had been one of the reasons for today. It didn't seem like they'd made much of an impact he thought wearily as the Senator and his flock left the room completely ignoring Julia who was shoving her notes into her briefcase and preparing to leave.  
  
  
  
Warren stood outside the door waiting for the media circus to dissipate. He wasn't sure exactly what he was hanging around for, to commend Julia on her speech perhaps and maybe get a chance to ask Al privately about the state of the campaign's finances. Few people knew it but Warren was one of the silent financers of the anti-mutant registration campaign and he wanted to keep it that way, he certainly didn't want to have to answer a lot of questions about his motives for supporting the campaign, not just yet anyway.  
  
The crowd was still pouring out the door using any available space to squeeze out of the room. Warren flinched as someone brushed off his back as they forced their way past him. The man paused for a moment and Warren could feel his heart hammering in his throat, even after he'd moved on. Without thinking Warren headed for the door; he despised crushes like this and he could always telephone Al in the morning and get his assistant to send Julia a bouquet of flowers and his regards. Yeah, there was really no reason for him to stay around.  
  
  
  
Emer left the room trying to consign to memory everything that she had just heard and seen. The only reason she had come today was so she could tell the others what had happened. Despite her protests that she had more important things to do they had persuaded her. They needed to know what was said here today, what was really said here; any television, radio or newspaper reports were not going to be unbiased and they wanted a clear view of what happened so she was their eyes and ears and she couldn't refuse them that. 


End file.
